November 21, 2012

The tallest building in the world in 90 days

China is trying not only to establish a new world record when it comes to empty buildings but now even with construction time, the tallest building in the world in 90 days.
Just wondering how long it will take to fill it up after construction.

According to its engineers, this will be the tallest skyscraper in the
world by the end of March of 2013. Its name is Sky City, and its 2,749
feet (838 meters) distributed in 220 floors will grow in just 90 days in
Changsha city, by the Xiangjiang river. Ninety days!

It's not a joke. According to the construction company, the skyscraper
will be built in just 90 days at the unbelievable rate of five floors
per day.

Pre-Fab Magic

They will be able to achieve this impossibly fast construction rate by
using a prefabricated modular technology developed by Broad Sustainable
Building, a company that has built 20 tall structures in China so far,
including the a 30-story hotel [constructed in 360 hours - see link for time-lapse video].

Record numbers

Unlike the Burj Khalifa, the tower will be mostly habitable. Its final
height will be 2,749 feet high (838 meters). Compared that to the Burj's
2,719 feet (829 meters), which include the spire at the top resulting
in a total of 163 floors.

Sky City will use an astonishing 220,000 tons of steel. The structure
will be able to house 31,400 people of both "high and low income
communities". The company says that the residential area will use
83-percent of the building, while the rest will be offices, schools,
hospitals, shops and restaurants. People will move up and down using 104
high speed elevators.

The record figures don't stop there: in addition to the 90-day
construction time—as opposed to the 210 days initially reported by the
Chinese media—the company claims it will cost $1,500 per square meter as
opposed to the Burj's $15,000 per square meter, all thanks to the
prefab technology.

They also claim it will be able to sustain earthquakes of a 9.0
magnitude and be resistant to fire for "up to three hours," as well as
be extremely energy efficient thanks to thermal insulation, four-panned
windows and different air conditioning techniques that were already used
in their previous constructions.